Qualla: Kaohsiung Lighthouse

Kaohsiung Lighthouse: Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rybloo, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Convention of Peking, signed in 1860, opened dozens of Chinese ports to foreign trade — and among them was a harbor on Taiwan's southwest coast the Qing called Takau. As merchant ships began threading their way through the narrow entrance between the mainland shore and a long barrier island, someone needed to light the way. In 1883, British engineers came and built a red-brick lighthouse in the Chinese rectangular style at the top of the hill the locals called Ki-au, the Flag-Back Mountain. That first lighthouse has since been replaced, rebuilt, and renovated, but it has stood on this hilltop for well over a century, watching over a harbor that grew from a modest trading post into one of the largest container ports on Earth.

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Image: Rybloo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kaohsiung Lighthouse: Opened by Treaty

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rybloo, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Convention of Peking ended the Second Opium War and compelled China to open additional ports to Western commerce. Takau — the harbor that would become Kaohsiung — was among those designated treaty ports. Foreign merchants arrived quickly, and with them came the practical prob...

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Image: Rybloo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kaohsiung Lighthouse: Rebuilt Under Japanese Rule

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 象心力, CC BY-SA 3.0. When Japan acquired Taiwan after the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, the colonial administration set about modernizing the island's infrastructure according to Japanese and Western standards. The harbor at Kaohsiung — renamed and expanded — became a priority. As part of a broader ...

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Image: 象心力 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kaohsiung Lighthouse: A View Worth Climbing For

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kaoshiung panorama.jpg: Rubendene derivative work: ויקיג'אנקי, CC0. The lighthouse sits at the top of Mount Ki-au, and the climb repays the effort. From the tower, the entire Port of Kaohsiung opens up below: the long parallel lines of container berths, the bulk carriers anchored in the outer roads, the narrow strait between Cijin Island and the ...

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Image: Kaoshiung panorama.jpg: Rubendene derivative work: ויקיג'אנקי | CC0

Kaohsiung Lighthouse: Cijin Island Setting

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Heeheemalu, CC BY-SA 4.0. The lighthouse's location on Cijin Island shapes everything about the experience of visiting it. Cijin is a narrow strip of land — barely a few hundred meters wide in places — separating Kaohsiung Harbor from the Taiwan Strait. To reach it from the city center, visitors take a sh...

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Image: Heeheemalu | CC BY-SA 4.0